Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session of the Fortieth Congress
Mr. Dickinson to Mr. Seward
Sir: I transmit, herewith, translations of a note and memorandum which I received some days ago from Señor Tomas Ayon, the minister for foreign affairs of this government, in regard to the Mosquito questions pending between Nicaragua and Great Britain. I also enclose a copy of my note to the minister for foreign affairs in answer thereto.
It is proper that I should state for your information the reasons which induced me to assume in that note that the action of the United States government in regard to the Mosquito questions would depend somewhat upon that of the government of Nicaragua in regard to the Nicaraguan transit.
In the month of May last the Central American Transit Company, through their political agent here, applied to the government of Nicaragua for certain amendments to the company’s contract, which the government at first refused to grant. But in the month of June following, after the government became convinced that it was impossible for the company to make the necessary improvements in the route without having the amendments granted, the President of Nicaragua, through his minister, Antonio Silva, agreed to grant them on condition that the company would obligate itself to restore the harbor of Grey town.
Although the government was not legally bound by this agreement, as it was not formalized into a written document, the President well understood it, for he had made substantially the same promise to me. Since then the company has put in operation a powerful dredging machine, and commenced the work of opening the harbor, But, meantime, on the 30th of August last, this same Antonio Silva, commissioned by the President, has made a contract with a German by the name of Maximilian Sonnenstern, giving to the latter and to the company which he might form thereafter, the exclusive privilege of establishing a line by canal between the two lakes of Managua and Nicaragua, by way of the Tipitapa river, and extending it for interior traffic down the San Juan river to Greytown. This latter contract cuts off one of the proposed amendments to the Central American Transit Company’s contract, which covers precisely the same ground between the two lakes that the Sonnenstern contract does.
In a conversation between the President and myself in June last, he stated [Page 696] to me that the government would, among other amendments, concede to the transit company the right to extend its line between the two lakes, by way of the river Tipitapa, on condition that the company would build a wharf at Granada on Lake Nicaragua, and restore the harbor at Grey town. It now turns out that both the wharf and the work at Greytown are to be done for the benefit of the Sonnenstern project. I have lately learned from a reliable source that a German friend of Sonnenstern recently took the contract to Panama to make some arrangement with the Panama Railroad Company.
Unless the Sonnenstern contract is defeated in Congress it will not only seriously interfere with existing rights of the transit company, but will make the proposed amendments worthless to that company. The bad faith of this government toward the transit company has therefore induced me to write the note before mentioned, which I think will have the effect to bring the government to terms on transit matters.
A day or two ago I was invited to a conference with the President and minister of foreign affairs upon transit questions in connection with the Mosquito difficulties, and the President then stated that Mr. Antonio Silva was not authorized to make the agreement which he did with the political agent of the transit company. It appears, however, that the same Antonio Silva was the person commissioned by the President to make the Sonnenstern contract. At this last interview the President expressed much solicitude in regard to the Mosquito questions and earnestly desired the interposition of the United States government. On my representing to him the troublesome questions that would arise out of the Sonnenstern contract in connection with the Central American Transit Company, in case that contract should go into effect, he replied to me that it could be defeated in Congress, and that the government was still willing to make a liberal contract with the transit company and grant them all the privileges necessary to put the route in successful operation, and that there would be no doubt of its ratification by the Nicaraguan Congress. An unofficial communication upon transit questions, a copy of which I enclose, undoubtedly led to the request for the official conference upon transit matters before alluded to.
I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Señor Ayon to Mr. Dickinson
Sir: Very grateful to his excellency the President of the republic have been the sentiments contained in the official letter which your excellency addressed to me on the 25th ultimo, in virtue of a despatch received from the Department of State of the United States, communicating that your note to Mr. Adams, as also your proceeding’s in relation to the pretensions of the government of Great Britain over the Mosquito territory, had been approved by his excellency the President of the United States; and that Mr. Adams had received instructions to express to Lord Stanley the most ardent desire of the President of the United States that the subject may be treated amicably, but that before the United States can properly adopt more urgent measures, it is necessary to receive more explicit information from this government. I beg your excellency to make known to the minister of state that the government of Nicaragua appreciates the just value of and correspondingly acknowledges the important offices which the American Union has seen fit to interpose in its behalf to induce the government of Great Britain to treat amicably the questions which its agents are exciting against Nicaragua in regard to their rights in the Mosquito territory; and with the object of giving to your excellency the information desired by the minister of state in order to adopt more urgent measures, I remit to your excellency a memorandum which I have made upon those questions, promising to transmit other important documents thereon when the government returns to the city of Managua.
I beg your excellency to make known to the minister of State the memorandum referred to, and to accept the assurances of esteem and consideration of your obedient servant,
[Translation.]
Questions in relation to the sovereignty of Nicaragua in the territory of the Mosquito Reserve:
FIRST QUESTION.
First. Upon the payment of the subvention offered by the government of Nicaragua to the Mosco Indians.
We must examine beforehand what are the bases on which Nicaragua grounds her right of defence against the pretensions of the British cabinet.
In article 1st of the treaty which this government celebrated with Great Britain the 28th of January, 1860, the country then occupied or reclaimed by the Mosquito Indians within the frontier of the republic of Nicaragua is recognized by the British government as an inte gral part, and under the sovereignty of the republic; and by article 2d the district reserved to the Mosquito Indians is particularly recognized as territory of the republic of Nicaragua and under its sovereignty.
It is undisputable, then, that the British government recognizes in general the sovereignty of Nicaragua over all the coast occupied by the Mosquitoes, and also recognizes in particular the sovereignty of the republic in the territory of the reserve. This recognition is the fundamental principle of the rights of Nicaragua.
Second. In order to understand the questions pending we should examine as fundamental circumstances what is the extent and what are the limitations imposed in the treaty as to the sovereignty of Nicaragua over the territory of the Mosquito Reserve, so that we shall not lose sight of the fact that the exercise of sovereignty is susceptible of divers forms, but that the form does not alter the substance, which, according to the principles of international law, consists in the existence of a supreme authority which directs and represents the nation in its moral personality.
By article 3d of said treaty Nicaragua agrees that the Mosquito Indians shall govern themselves and govern all the residents within the district designated in article 2d, according to their own proper customs and in conformity to the regulations which they might from time to time adopt, not being incompatible with the sovereign rights of the republic of Nicaragua.
In order to give clearness to the matter we are aiming at in article 1st: Great Britain recognizes in general terms, and without any limitation, the sovereignty of Nicaragua over all the coast occupied by the Mosquitoes; and Nicaragua, by article 3d, delegates to the Indians the power of government by which they are within the reserved district to govern themselves and the residents according to their proper customs, &c. But if it is true that Nicaragua delegates to the Indians the power to govern for themselves, it is also true that Nicaragua reserves the full sovereignty, as in article 2d it is said definitely thus: “There shall be assigned to the Mosquito Indians within the territory of the republic a district which shall remain, as stipulated above, under the sovereignty of Nicaragua.” And it could not be otherwise, because if it is considered that Nicaragua could not retain said sovereignty, the recognition of this right which the British government explicitly gives would be void of all signification, which could not be supposed of a stipulation intended to establish positive rights and obligations. From which it is deduced that the Indians are subjects of Nicaragua; that they do not form an independent nation, and that the Mosquito territory is an integral part of the territory of this republic.
The government of Nicaragua was informed by the governor intendant of San Juan del Norte (Greytown) that the election of the chief of the Mosquitoes was not by the Indians of that place, but by a party of foreigners, putting in nomination as chief a child, and appointing as his tutor one of the foreigners. Hence the government of Nicaragua declines to give the pension of five thousand dollars annually to the authorities thus constituted—not the Indians, but the foreigners. The British minister claims that sum, with interest, alleging that to decide as to the mode in which the chief of the Mosquitoes is elected is contrary to the rights of this republic, even when thus practiced; that formerly, as now, the votes of the principal chiefs were cast for the person designated by the predecessor in office; that then, as on the present occasion, the election was in favor of a child, and the public business was directed by a tutor (guardian) until the chief became of legal age; that article 3d of the treaty secures to the Indians the right of governing themselves according to the regulations from time to time adopted. Deducing from which, that although the election was disapproved by the government of Nicaragua, and of a character entirely new and unusual, the Indians were justified, by virtue of the treaty, in adopting that mode, which, even though of an extraordinary nature, was not incompatible with the sovereign rights of Nicaragua. The British minister adds that in regard to this reserve the republic of Nicaragua, in article 3d, agrees to respect and not to interfere in such customs and regulations thus established, or which may be established within the Mosquito territory. From all which it is concluded that the refusal to make the payment is contrary to the tenor of the treaty, and that England has the right to reclaim the sum unpaid as one of her powers of intervention.
All these reasonings of the British minister are contested by the tenor of the treaty itself.
The British government, by a condition imposed by the Congress of this republic, recognized, in terms absolute and without any limitation, the right of sovereignty in favor of [Page 698] Nicaragua over all the Mosquito territory. This recognition should produce its legal effects: between England and Nicaragua. By consequence England has no power to make reclamation in favor of the Mosquitoes, because they are not subjects of England, but of Nicaragua. !
The government of Nicaragua recognized its own sovereignty in conceding to the Mosquito Indians within the district designated in article 2d the right of governing themselves, and of governing all persons residing within said district, according to their own customs and in conformity to the regulations which might from time to time be adopted by them, not being incompatible with the sovereign rights of the republic of Nicaragua. With this reservation of not to be incompatible with her sovereign rights, Nicaragua agrees to respect, and not to oppose, such customs and regulations thus established or which may be established within said district.
It is seen, then, clearly, that what Nicaragua agreed was to concede to the Indians the power of self-government, according to their usual and proper customs, not being contrary to the sovereign rights of the republic. If the Indians, wanting the faculty to govern them selves, consent that a foreigner shall come among them and govern them with the name of guardian, authorized by other foreigners, and also contrary to stipulated terms, then, instead of the Indians governing the residents in the reserve, the residents are the governors of the Indians.
Moreover, if Nicaragua agreed to concede solely to the Indians the right of governing, and not to foreigners of any other nation, because one of the principal purposes of the treaty was to remove every foreign influence from the governments of the Indians, it is evident that the fact of foreigners coming to govern them, besides being opposed to the terms of the treaty, is contrary to the sovereign rights of Nicaragua recognized by England, and consequently the government of the republic can neither recognize such authority nor pay the pension offered to the Indians.
This is the proper ground of the question.
Fourth. The British minister, conceding the importance to Nicaragua of the question considered under the aspect of the foregoing article, in a note of the 19th May, 1866, denies that the government of Nicaragua has the right to allege anything against the election of the chief of the Mosquitoes. In respect to which he says that the information which the government has received is inaccurate; that in regard to it the list of the individuals who composed the electoral college is clear; that the Mosco Indians were on that occasion represen ted by their lesser chiefs; that it is a point of little importance whether the chief was elected according to the ancient customs of the Indians, or according to new ones adopted, in both cases the election being valid according to the treaty; and that by the latter mode, although there should be faults in the election, the correction should be made by the Mosco Indians, and not by the government of Nicaragua, which would have no reason to interfere, as is said, because the sovereignty would not be affected thereby.
In this reasoning of the British minister there are various things to observe. In the first place, there is no denial of having named for chief of the Moscos a child, and for tutor of this child a foreigner, who is to govern during his minority. This sole circumstance is. a manifest infraction of the treaty, wherein it is agreed that the Indians shall govern for themselves, in order to remove every intervention or foreign protectorate. In the second place, it is not stated whether the lesser chiefs who represented the Indians in the election were Indians also, thus evading the assertion of this government that the election was by foreigners. And in the third place an inconsequence of the minister is noticed which is offensive to good sense, as I shall proceed to demonstrate.
By note which the minister of relations for this government addressed on the 29th of November of last year, answering the reclamation for the pension and interest already referred to, it is said that, even on the supposition that the subvention to the Indian chief should be refused without just cause, the British legation would have no right to ask indemnification for it, because it would be equivalent to a continuation of the protectorate, against the provisions of article 1st of the treaty.
In note of the 10th of May of this year the British minister answered, saying that every nation which is a party in a treaty with others has, first of all, the obligation to see that its stipulations are complied with, and that in a case like the present, international as well as national duty is compromised to it; and adds that he cannot observe without extreme surprise and regret the assertion made by this government that Great Britain has no right of action in the matters pending between the Mosco Indians and the republic of Nicaragua.
In the first place, I should say for Nicaragua that Great Britain, as well as any other nation, has the right to claim the fulfilment of a treaty in regard to her own rights, but not in regard to those which are alien, over which we should suppose that the owners possessed the exclusive power either to reclaim or renounce, as they should judge more or less convenient; and that it is evident that Great Britain, without the Mosquitoes having made reclamation of any sum, and without their having notified this government in the name of their authorities to whom the subvention should be delivered, appears defending with such zeal those supposed rights to the subvention and its interest, even though not demanded by those who are really interested; whence it appears that it is not the Mosquitoes who are making the claim, but the English subjects who made the elections, and who desire, under the shelter of the treaty, to prolong the English protectorate and govern that coast.
[Page 699]In the second place, I would say, that if England has the right to claim the fulfilment of the treaty in regard to the subvention of the Indians, notwithstanding that this subvention is not for the English government nor for their subjects, then also Nicaragua, and with greater reason, has the right to claim the fulfilment of the treaty to the end that the Moscos shall be governed by themselves and not by foreigners; for Nicaragua delegated the government of the reserve on condition that the Indians should govern themselves and the residents within it, and not that foreigners should come among them to seize the power against the purpose of the contracting parties, and principally of Nicaragua, whose sovereignty is concerned. Wherefore it follows that the claim for the subvention and its interest made by the English government is inadmissible: 1. Because having recognized the power of full sovereignty of Nicaragua in all the territory of the Mosquitoes they implicitly recognized the Indians as subjects of the republic; consequently, from the moment that England made that acknowledgment she has nothing to do with the relations of Nicaragua with her Indian subjects, because by such intervention England attributes a superiority over Nicaragua offensive to the sovereignty which she has recognized. 2. Because if England sees fit she can claim perpetually the fulfilment of the treaty according to her understanding of how much of the rights belong to her or spring from the treaty in favor of her subjects, but not as to those belonging to other nations, though having concurred in the celebration of the treaty, or to the subjects of another nation, as the Mosquitoes of Nicaragua, because the said treaty has not named or recognized her as a protector of alien rights. How would it appear to the government of England if Nicaragua should reclaim against the provisions which they made, or the conduct which they observed in respect to their own subjects, because such provisions and such conduct should not be in consonance with the treaty ? The relations of a sovereign with its subjects belong to a category independent of all foreign intervention, and the interests and relations between them can only be the object of a treaty. Otherwise, the British protectorate over the Moscos would only be a change of name. 3. Because no nation is permitted to call another to account for what passes between its citizens, or between the government and its citizens. The same government of England says to the courts of Europe, in a circular of January 19th, 1821, in consequence of the principles of intervention proclaimed by Russia, Prussia, and Austria in the circular of Laybach:
“That no government was more disposed than it to interfere in the conduct of another state when its immediate security or essential interests were seriously compromised. This right was an exception to general principles emanating solely from the circumstances of the case, the danger making the exception to the general rule, and was incorporated as such in the institutions of the law of nations. The principles on which this rule is based (says Great Britain) sanction an intervention too frequent and extensive in the internal affairs of other states, nor can this intervention be arrogated by a diplomatic concert without attributing a supremacy irreconcilable with the rights of sovereignty of the other states, and with general interests, and without establishing an oppressive system attended with the gravest consequences.”
England gave them a noble example, protecting the independence of the great nations of Europe. Has she in the course of time changed those principles ? Does she recognize the right of independence for the powerful nations, but not for the weak? If England, then, recognized the sovereignty of Nicaragua in the Mosquito reserve, she ought to cease all intervention on her part in the relations of this government with the Indians, because that intervention is irreconcilable with the rights of sovereignty which the British government recognized in favor of Nicaragua, and because she thus establishes an oppressive inspection, while she has declared that her protectorate over the Moscos should cease after three months from the celebration of the treaty. Therefore, Great Britain can only reclaim her own proper right or those of her subjects, but never those of foreign subjects. 4 Because, even conceding that England, as a party to the treaty, has the right to claim the fulfilment with regard to the subvention conceded to the Moscos for their social improvement, and to provide for the maintenance of the authorities, neither the persons who are now acting as such authorities, nor those who conducted the election, nor the chief who rules as tutor, are acting in accordance with the treaty, but as strangers, and consequently Nicaragua is not obligated to give them the subvention which was offered to the Indians, and not to the strangers who have come among them arrogating the sovereign rights of election and command which belonged originally to Nicaragua and to the Indians by delegation. 5. And finally, because the example which the English minister has presented in his note of May 10th of last year, that if the Turkish government were accused of infractions of the rights guaranteed by a treaty with another power to Wallachia or Moldavia, over whom Turkey exercised the sovereignty, it would be a case in point, is not applicable to the present case, for the reason that it does not appear in the treaty of January 28, 1760, that Nicaragua submitted the rights of the Mosquitoes to the guarantee of Great Britain. So far from being a similar case, Nicaragua in that treaty sought to remove the intervention of that power which had been endeavoring to establish itself under the name of protectorate.
[Page 700]SECOND QUESTION.
Claim of the English minister for the duties which Nicaragua collects upon the goods introduced into the reserve.
1. The government of the republic, in view of article 1st and the latter part of article 2d of the treaty celebrated between this republic and her Britannic Majesty the 28th of January, 1860, issued a decree on the 4th of October, 1864, declaring that the maritime importation of foreign effects for consumption within the territory assigned to the Mosquito Indians should be made through the port of San Juan del Norte, subject to the same rules and imposts established for those to be consumed in the said port. This disposition has been the subject of a new reclamation. By note of the English minister, Mathew, addressed to the minister of relations of this government, dated May 10, 1866, it is said, “That for the first time it is known, and with some surprise, that the merchandise brought into the Mosquito reserve had been introduced as contraband at other points; but that with respect to the imports for consumption by the Indians it was unnecessary to say that they would have to pay more by reason of the duties imposed on transit in addition to those necessary charges, and that their cost would be less for the charges of freight if disembarked in their old and proper ports instead of Greytown.”
Four months after that note was addressed by Mr. Mathew, Mr. Wallis, in charge of the legation, in the absence of the first, in a note of the 5th of September of the present year, says that, speaking of the imports collected in Greytown upon merchandise destined to be consumed by the Mosquito Indians, the object of every tax was to procure the necessary funds to sustain the expenses of the State; that all the inhabitants contribute more or less to the common welfare, and all should equally enjoy the benefits which the imports produce in the protection of their persons and property. But under what aspect do the Mosquito Indians have the benefit of the duties collected by the government upon the merchandise which is consumed in the reserve ? Mr. Wallis adds, alluding to a despatch from this ministry, that if contraband is introduced through the reserve into the interior of the republic, the remedy would be for the government to appoint employes to look out for it.
It is seen, then, that Mr. Mathew recognizes the power of Nicaragua to collect duties upon merchandise destined for consumption in the reserve, and that the single question he treats is the diminution of costs by disembarking in the reserve, to avoid the freight from Greytown; while Mr. Wallis, officiously constituting himself a business attorney of the Mosquito Indians, denies that right to Nicaragua, alleging as a reason that the Indians receive no benefit from the product of the tax.
In the first place we should repel as illegal this intervention of the English agent in the relations of this government of Nicaragua with its subjects, the Mosquito Indians. What Great Britain has pretended in this matter is to procure the fulfilment of the treaty as a power that concurred in its celebration, and not to ask any privilege in favor of the Indians, as that they shall not pay duties on the importations into the reserve. This is not a right springing from the treaty, and Great Britain cannot pretend such exemption.
The reason of the English agent for that exemption should not be admitted as a consequence of the treaty, because there is no such consequence; and because, if we were to widen that stipulation and open its consequences, we should go from one to another to the remotest, thus authorizing to England an intervention extensive and prejudicial to the sove-reignty of Nicaragua.
This is not a mere fiction. In the organization of a state all its interests are so interwoven that they form a unity so inseparable that one cannot be touched without more or less affecting the whole.
2. But, moreover, in the same treaty it is stipulated that Nicaragua shall collect those duties. By articles first and second Great Britain recognizes as an integral part, and under the sovereignty of the republic, the country up to that time occupied or reclaimed by the Mosquito Indians within the frontier of said republic wherever that frontier should be; and it is agreed that there shall be assigned to the Mosquito Indians within the territory of the republic a district that shall remain, as stipulated, under the sovereignty of Nicaragua.
In article fifth of said treaty, speaking of the subvention to be given by Nicaragua to the Indians, in the final paragraph it is said: “To pay this sum Nicaragua shall impose and especially assign a duty upon the weight of all bales of goods which shall be imported through that port for consumption in the interior of the republic, without prejudice to the right to make up the deficit from the other revenues of the republic.”
If the reserve, then, is an integral part of the republic of Nicaragua, and under its sovereignty, according to articles first and second, it is evident that the goods consumed in it should pay the duties imposed upon those for consumption in the territory of the republic, of which said reserve is an integral part. This is not simply a consequence more or less forced, but a literal test of the treaty, as it should, above all things, be understood when the purpose of the stipulating parties is inquired into.
3. But there is another question no less legal than the preceding to repel the pretension of the British agent.
By article seventh of said treaty it is declared that Greytown, or San Juan del Norte, shall [Page 701] be a free port under the sovereign authority of the republic, which is compromised not to impose any duties or charges upon the vessels which arrive at said free port, or depart there from, except enough for the due maintenance and security of navigation for light-houses and to pay the police charges of the port. It is also declared that no duties or charges shall be imposed in that free port on the goods which enter it in transit from sea to sea. These are the only limitations accepted by Nicaragua upon the imposition of duties either on vessels or goods entering the port.
Now, then, if the goods passing from the port to the reserve are not included in the single limitation of goods passing in transit from sea to sea, why should there be imposed upon Nicaragua another limitation contrary to its sovereignty and to article seventh of the treaty ?
If Nicaragua should consent not to collect duties upon goods carried into the reserve, it would lead to the idea that she considered the Mosquitoes an independent nation, and would also authorize in that territory considerable deposits of merchandise to be introduced as contraband on a large scale impossible to prevent, except with a force so numerous and extensive as to depopulate the country.
It is, then, established that Great Britain has no right to intervene in representation of the Mosquito Indians, nor to reclaim privileges not comprehended in the treaty; that Nicaragua has the right to collect the tax upon goods destined for interior consumption, and that the reserve being an integral part of Nicaragua, its part of the consumption is subject to the payment of duties as well as the rest of the republic; and finally, that the single limitation recognized by Nicaragua in the treaty is not to collect duties on goods passing in transit from sea to sea, which cannot be considered as comprehended with those destined for consumption in the reserve, which is an integral part of the territory of Nicaragua.
THIRD QUESTION.
Reclamation of the British minister for the concession to cut woods, made to Mr. Wm. Vaughan.
1. On the 28th of February, 1866, the government of this republic, by a contract celebrated to that effect with Mr. William Vaughan, jr., conceded the exclusive right for ten years to cut mahogany and other woods on the river Wava and its tributaries on lands belonging to Nicaragua, within five English miles of the margins of said river. This concession has given place to a new claim of the British agent.
By note addressed to the ministry of relations, on the 5th of September of last year, Mr. Allen Wallis says that the Mosquito Indians suffer great damage by the government of Nicaragua disposing of the wood within their district, as it is the single branch of their finances; that if the government of Nicaragua is considered by the treaty as having the right to make concessions for the cutting of wood in the Mosquito reserve, it would also have the right to impede the Indians in making use of the wood and other products of that country.
The government of Nicaragua sees with just surprise to what lengths the British agents go with the stipulations of the treaty in their desire to form out of the district conceded to the Indians an independent nation with rights opposed to the sovereign rights of Nicaragua. By this manner the protectorate of Great Britain, whose suppression was the principal object of the two contracting nations, would continue under the cloak of the treaty, giving to it an elasticity inconsistent either with the purpose to remove all foreign intervention from the government of the Indians, or with the sovereign rights of the republic in the territory of the reserve.
To all the reasons anteriorly expressed which are also applicable to the present question, should be added that Great Britain recognized the sovereignty of Nicaragua over all the coast then occupied by the Mosquito Indians belonging to the sovereign, the mountains, woods, rivers, and other things of a public denomination, which can only be disposed of by the sovereign, whether for the common use of the inhabitants or for those objects of public interest which are considered most expedient.
With this right the sovereign regulates game-laws and fisheries, grants public lands, decrees imposts, tolls, and land taxes, and declares its right of property in all mines of fossils and metals, or in a portion of their products.
These rights are founded on original occupancy, which could not be supposed to be effected by one or several subjects, but by the sovereign.
Furthermore, no clause being embraced in the treaty referring to the cutting of woods, or in which the sovereignty of the republic is limited in that particular, there is no foundation whatever for the claim made by the British minister in opposition to the concession which this government authorized to Mr. William Vaughan, jr., to cut woods on the river Wava, within the territory of Nicaragua, a pretension which has caused the utmost surprise to the government of the republic, because it is in all aspects opposed to its sovereign rights and foreign to the stipulations agreed upon by the two contracting parties.
Mr. Dickinson to Señor Ayon
Sir: I have very carefully examined and considered four excellency’s very clear and able exposition of the questions in dispute between the governments of Nicaragua and Great Britain, in regard to the Mosquito territory, which I received on the 3d instant from your excellency in the form of a note and memorandum upon the questions pending between the two governments.
It has necessarily occupied considerable time to make the translations and copies and properly prepare the papers for the Department of State at Washington, and it was therefore impossible to transmit them by the last mail. But the further time which I have been able to bestow upon the subject has more than compensated for the delay by giving time for the whole case to be properly laid before the Secretary of State in connection with a copy of this communication, which I now have the honor of addressing to your excellency, explaining, as I shall proceed to do, my own views as to the position which I conceive the United States government will be justified in assuming in regard to these important questions.
From the time when the Spanish-American States first proved to the world that they had attained their independence, the United States have asserted that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they had assumed, were thenceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power,
In furtherance of this principle, the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850, between the United States and Great Britain, declared that neither one of the parties would ever occupy, or fortify, or colonize, or assume or exercise any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast, or any part of Central America. But it will be remembered that this stipulation was made with direct reference to an interoceanic communication across the territory of Nicaragua, and for the purpose of guaranteeing such encouragement and protection to the said interoceanic route as the two governments could extend to it consistently with their attitude of neutrality.
The action of the United States government, then, in regard to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty must depend very much upon the action of the government of Nicaragua in regard to the transit route; and when the government of Nicaragua gives practical evidence of its intention to remove all obstacles to such route on its part, by granting the necessary concessions for a successful transit, there will then be sufficient inducement for the government of the United States to insist upon a strict observance of the stipulations of that treaty. But if the present American company are denied privileges and concessions which have been freely granted to the English and the French, there is little inducement left for the United States to interfere in the settlement of the Mosquito questions.
With regard to the treaty of the 28th January, 1860, between Nicaragua and Great Britain, and the pretensions of the latter growing out of that treaty, a careful consideration of the whole subject in all its bearings leads very forcibly to the conclusion that it is of the utmost importance to the future welfare, if not the very existence, of Nicaragua to retain its sovereignty unimpaired over the Mosquito territory and not allow it to be undermined and gradually alienated by the influences now at work to transfer it to foreign hands. And it only remains for Nicaragua to prove her good faith and her friendly disposition to citizens of the United States to secure the good offices and the lasting friendship of the government of the United States.
With the earnest hope that these questions may result favorably to Nicaragua, I beg to subscribe myself, &c., &c,
His Excellency Señor Thomas Ayon, Minister for Foreign Affairs, &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Dickinson to President Guzman
Mr. President: Permit me to address your excellency again upon a subject which I believe we both have very much at heart: the success of the Nicaraguan transit. Letters recently received from the transit company convey the gratifying intelligence that the company had not only concluded to accept the obligation to open the harbor of San Juan del Norte, but had actually commenced the work, with powerful machinery and a strong force of men, on the faith of the proposition made by Mr. Silva to the political agent of the company in June last, that, on such condition, the amendments to the contract before then proposed by the company should be granted.
But I fear that the contract celebrated between the government of Nicaragua and Maximilian Sonnenstern on the 30th of August last, which I have recently had an opportunity of examining, will prevent the company from enjoying the proposed concessions in their full spirit and intent.
Even should the company of the interior line be confined strictly to the internal commerce [Page 703] of the country, without any design on the part of the government that it should interfere with a transit line over the same route, there would still be clashing interests and many difficult questions to settle before two separate companies could run harmoniously over the same line.
Supposing, for instance, that the two companies should be established over the same line, one for interior traffic and the other for transit purposes, would the transit company be excluded from carrying any of the interior commerce or way passengers of the country? or would the transit company, after spending vast sums of money and making great and valuable improvements on the river and harbor of San Juan, to be freely enjoyed by the other company, be excluded from the free enjoyment of the canal between the two lakes 1
These are grave questions, and if they should be answered in the negative I fear that the transit company would be defeated in their enterprise.
The transit company could hardly consent to make one end of the line of the other company, and that much the costliest and most difficult part, and then be prohibited from running on the other end Of the line. It will readily be seen that in that view of the case the company of the interior line would be deriving immense advantages from the works and expenditures of the transit company without rendering to the transit company any equivalent whatever in return.
I do not wish to bs understood as saying anything against the internal improvements of this country; on the contrary, I desire to favor such improvements in every possible manner. But the first great improvement to be made is the restoration of the harbor of San Juan del Norte; and this must be done by the transit company, aided by such concessions from the government as will enable them to compete successfully with the Panama Railroad Company, now more than ever to be feared as a formidable rival. Whatever obstructs their free course over the best route which Nicaragua affords will have a tendency to defeat the great work on which all the others depend for their success.
I was led by the liberal and enlightened views expressed by your excellency during my last visit to Managua, to feel the utmost confidence that nothing could transpire to prevent the company from obtaining a liberal and perfect contract, with all the concessions that would be required to make the transit a complete success; and I therefore assured the company that they could go on at once with their improvements without waiting for the formal amendments, and that they need have no fears as to the result; that the government would grant all the essential amendments, and the company would be required to fulfil their part of the contract and make a good and reliable transit.
The company have acted on my advice in so promptly commencing the improvements which they are now making without waiting for the formal contract. They have thereby shown their entire faith in the Nicaraguan government, and the whole system of works which they propose are so evidently for the benefit of Nicaragua that they can hardly conceive it possible for Nicaragua to refuse to give them every possible assistance. So well known is it to them that every railroad or similar public improvement in the United States receives, not only from its government but from every town or city through which it passes, large contributions in lands and in money, a;nd every possible support and encouragement in the way of legislation, that they feel every confidence that when the case is properly understood, and when the government of Nicaragua feels confidence in the company, they will receive a like encouragement and support in this country.
What the views of the company may be when they receive notice of the contract lately made with Mr. Sonnenstern I cannot tell, but I fear that it will have a very discouraging and damaging effect upon the company, and it may compel them to abandon the undertaking, the consequences of which to Nicaragua your excellency can better imagine than I can express.
I trust now that the company may not form the opinion that Mr. Sonnenstern is working against their interests, because I hoped and believed that he would be selected as the company’s engineer in their great works. His knowledge of the country and his experience as an engineer would, I thought, make it better for the interests of the company, as well as of the republic, that he should be their principal engineer.
I beg to assure your excellency that in all these transit matters I study the interests of Nicaragua quite as much as I do those of the company, and I believe that such a contract can and ought to be made as will give the company every guarantee of success, and at the same time be directly beneficial to the republic in every respect.
I do not ask for a contract that will in any single particular work against the direct interests of the republic. I only ask for such a one as will guarantee the success of the transit, and thereby secure the success and prosperity of Nicaragua.
But I refrain from further remarks upon this interesting subject until I shall be more fully advised of the views of the government as to whether the contract recently celebrated with Mr. Sonnenstern is designed or calculated to interfere with the full scope of the transit amendments which have been proposed by the political agent of the company. At the same time permit me to express the hope that nothing may transpire to prevent the great transit enterprise from being realized to the fullest extent compatible with the interests of the republic.
With assurances of the highest consideration, permit me, &c. &c, &c,